Luminaires according to the invention are intended for use in any space, indoors or outdoors, where a linear array of luminaires is required for lighting purposes. Particularly, such luminaires are intended for use in lighting systems known as trunking systems or battens.
For several indoor lighting applications, such as shops, warehouses and offices, a linear array of luminaires is applied to give a proper lighting effect for the space. By using different light distributions an optimized lighting solution for these particular indoor applications can be realized. This particular lighting solution is also known as a trunking system. One important element of such linear lighting systems is the easiness of maintenance.
With conventional linear luminaires (using fluorescent technology) 3 general solutions are known. At first, a typical solution is to use a separate trunking, containing a powerline in which luminaires can be connected at specific points. The luminaire for this solution consists of a ballast and lamp. When a luminaire failure occurs, either the luminaire can be disconnected from the powerline and replaced or its failed component, such as a lamp or ballast, can be replaced.
A second known solution is a luminaire comprising connectors at both ends (possibly integrated with the luminaire caps as well). In this case, if a luminaire fails, the luminaire needs to be disconnected from the other luminaires to be replaced.
A last solution of realizing a linear array of luminaires is similar to the second known solution with the difference that the luminaires are connected by means of separate cables. In this case, when a failure occurs the luminaire can be fairly easily replaced by the user.
US 2009/0296381 A1 describes a solution of the second type mentioned above in which a modular lighting system with an elongate light module comprises two end caps. One end cap comprises a male connector and the other end cap a female connector. The connectors each comprise a set of plug-in connector pins for electrically coupling the light module to another light module or to an external power source.
These known solutions pose two main disadvantages. Firstly, by using conventional luminaires, at the end of each luminaire a dark spot is perceived by users due to the required end caps at each end of the luminaire.
Secondly, when the electrical connection of these luminaires are provided in a horizontal way, i.e. in a direction parallel with the longitudinal direction of the luminaire, it is very difficult to replace luminaire(s) placed in the middle of an array of luminaires and having a failure. Particularly, the disconnection of these luminaires implies a distinct risk of damaging the connection device, and on one end of the failed luminaire the entire array of luminaires needs to be moved.
Another way to classify different types of luminaires can be based on electrical properties of the single luminaire, such as maximum voltage or the total number of luminaires connected to a single power supply. Also integrated or using an external power supply can be another way to classify luminaires. For this invention these type of classifications are irrelevant, since the invention can be applied with all types of classifications as described above and the embodiments of the invention is suitable for whatever the building can support electrically.